


The Art of Subtlety

by okemmelie



Category: Firebringer - Team StarKid
Genre: Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Kissing, Stakeout, i guess?????
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:21:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23213968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/okemmelie/pseuds/okemmelie
Summary: Jemilla doesn't always like Zazzalil or her ideas, but she'll bitterly admit that some of them works if she absolutely has to.
Relationships: Jemilla/Zazzalil (Firebringer)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 51





	The Art of Subtlety

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ThatsrightZoeyeyye](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatsrightZoeyeyye/gifts).



> ina is an absolute angel and i love her so much???? she requested jazzalil + spies au + enemies to lovers + "that was a very bad idea. 0/10, would not recommend" from this list of prompts: https://helenmcwife.tumblr.com/post/613482483289407488/au-trope-prompt-game

The mission is simple. Stake out by an abandoned warehouse for a four days, watch and make sure to note down who goes in and out during those four days, and – if all goes according to plan – follow whoever leaves with the suitcase Director Molag has been going on about for the past ten minutes until they see an opportunity to get their hands on the suitcase themselves, then take that thing back home.

There’s just one issue. One tiny little complication that makes the simple mission an absolute nightmare. Normally, Director Molag briefs only the agent who’ll be going on the mission about it. But Jemilla isn’t alone in the room with Director Molag. Zazzalil sits in the chair right next to her. This is a two-person mission. And the two of them are being sent to work together.

There’s only one thing worse than working missions with Zazzalil. Working several days long missions with Zazzalil. Ugh!

But they’re professionals, both of them. It doesn’t mean that they won’t ever voice their complaints, but it does mean they both nod at Director Molag and tell her they’ve understood, before they leave without saying a word to each other. At least there’s another hour before they’re leaving. At least she can avoid looking at Zazzalil for another hour.

Emberly drives them. Most of the way, anyway. And it’s nice, because Emberly’s a distraction, another reason not to communicate with Zazzalil, to push the inevitable just that little bit into the future. It’s not perfect, sure, but it’ll do. She drops them off a town away from their destination and tells them good luck by quietly nodding as they get out of the car.

They’re travelling the last stretch by train, then walking from the station to the warehouse. Jemilla can’t remember the last time she’s had to take the train and she’ll be real, it feels strange sitting there, pretending to be normal. Pretending to like her travel companion.

Zazzalil, on the other hand, doesn’t look like she’s uncomfortable. She looks like she fits right in, her big hoodie blending perfectly with the outfits of the civilians around them. It’s probably more comfortable than Jemilla’s dress pants and fitted button down but hey, at least she looks professional. That’s gotta count for something.

Luckily, the train ride isn’t all that long and they get off soon enough. Jemilla’s about to check her watch for directions, but Zazzalil takes her hand before she’s able to. It makes her look at her partner in espionage with confusion and a raised eyebrow. That, in turn, makes Zazzalil roll her eyes at Jemilla.

She pulls out her phone with her free hand and quickly opens Google Maps, fills in the coordinates and then looks back up at Jemilla, this time with a way too smug smile. “Less suspicious that way,” she mouths. Then she gives Jemilla’s hand a little squeeze before she starts pulling her in the direction they need to be going.

As soon as they get out of the actual town and are seemingly out of anyone’s sight, Jemilla lets go of Zazzalil’s hand. It’s warm and sweaty and gross, because it’s Zazzalil’s. “Did you have to hold my hand?”

“No.” Zazzalil doesn’t even bother looking at her, but it’s alright because she seems to be looking at the map on her phone. She might not like Zazzalil, but at least she trusts her not to fuck something as simple as coordinates up. That’s something. “In fact, I’d have preferred not to as well. You didn’t give me very long to act, though.”

“And you couldn’t have come up with anything better?”

“Well, it worked didn’t it?”

There’s nothing Jemilla wants more than to argue with her, than to win this, but she’s afraid that’s one argument she cannot counter. It did work and they’re safely out of town now and if it had been anyone but fucking Zazzalil, perhaps Jemilla would have been praising them for their quick thinking skills rather than trying to start an argument.

So she says nothing. She folds her arms over her chest for a moment, but she says nothing and they continue the rest of their track in complete silence.

The first two days pass much slower than Jemilla would have liked for them to. They constantly find things to bicker and fight about, and sadly they’re trained enough to still be able to keep close watch without breaking up their arguments. Going to set up the recording equipment in the warehouse is a nice break from the madness and Jemilla savors the few moments she has to herself.

There’s no way she’s failing this mission due to unprofessionalism, however. Whenever there’s remote movement, she tells Zazzalil to shut up and yeah, they have their disagreements about literally everything all the time, but at least she listens. But aside from a guy they don’t recognize from the briefing going to sleep within one of the other warehouses one of the nights (Jemilla manages to get a picture of him for the agency, just in case), there’s no activity.

Day three rolls around and they start getting a little restless. Not restless enough to screw up, but restless enough to stop bickering, somehow. Instead they start talking. About their lives outside of their careers, about their childhood dreams, about their favorite colors. None of it matters, because their lives outside their careers basically doesn’t exist, they both dreamt of doing this or at least something like this and favorite colors matters very little when you’re a spy on a mission to save the world (but Zazzalil’s favorite color is blue because it reminds her of the sky and that’s pretty cool, because Jemilla’s yellow and she’s never really thought about why).

By day four, she still hates Zazzalil but just in a different way than she’s ever hated her before. She hates how her hair manages to stay so pretty despite the fact that they haven’t showered for four days. She hates that she manages to make refusing to get up in the morning seem like a  _ cute  _ thing. She hates how she makes Jemilla feel in less of a rush to get this whole mission over with. She obviously still hates Zazzalil, no doubt there, but it’s just different. And she doesn’t like change.

Night falls and they’re supposed to be extra careful, so that’s exactly what they are. They throw their not super necessary equipment into a nearby bush in case anyone comes looking in the perimeters and they stop talking to each other, which proves more difficult than she would’ve liked. It’s not  _ her  _ who’s making it difficult. It’s Zazzalil, who’s constantly opening her mouth to say something but regretting and shutting it again, only to make Jemilla want to ask questions.

It’s a good thing that doesn’t happen, though, because not long after they’ve decided on that whole no more words ordeal that they spot the first guy making his way towards the warehouse. A click glance through the camera in their fake glasses shows that it is in fact a person of interest for the case. 

Slowly but surely, more and more people start showing up and before they know it, it seems only one person on their list seems to be missing. They spot him a few moments later, but not near the warehouse. He’s walking the perimeter and he’s awfully close to them.

Zazzalil looks at her, a brief flash of panic in her eyes that Jemilla’s not used to seeing and especially not on Zazzalil. “Do you trust me?” She whispers just loudly enough for Jemilla to hear her, but she doesn’t even give her time to answer before she grabs her face and pulls her in for a kiss.

Part of her wants to pull away, to tell Zazzalil that this is crossing a professional boundary and that she’ll be reporting her to… someone. Anyone who’ll listen, in fact. But part of her understands that that’s not what this is about, because she too can hear footsteps coming nearer. And part of her enjoys wrapping her arms around Zazzalil and returning the kiss.

A stern, way too loud voice interrupts them. “What are you two doing here?”

Something unexpected happens. Zazzalil doesn’t break the kiss until the guy clears his throat at them and when she does break it, she transforms. She throws her hair back and she rolls her eyes at him. She also changes her voice and Jemilla swears she sounds exactly like the annoying teenage girls she once went to school with. “What are  _ you  _ doing here? Seriously, this is  _ our  _ spot.”

The guy looks a tad confused, but he quickly drops that and instead settles on unmoved. Unmoved with uncomfortable undertones. “Miss, you can’t be here tonight, this is–”

“Do you own this ground?” Jemilla joins in with a similar tone to Zazzalil and a confidence he probably wouldn’t have around a known criminal mastermind if it wasn’t for the fact that her hand is resting on Zazzalil’s gun and it’d be so easy to pull it out, should it become necessary. She hopes it won’t, but it’s nice to know she has the option.

“What?”

“You heard what I said.” Jemilla smiles at him, but her smile is nowhere near warm or inviting. “Do you own this ground? Because if not, I’d really like to get back to making out with my girlfriend.”

“But ma’am, you don’t understand, it’s important that y–”

Zazzalil puts on her best shocked face and Jemilla gives her a supportive hand on the shoulder. “No, I think you’re the one who doesn’t understand. It’s our anniversary and this is the spot we had our first date in. We went ghost hunting. It was fun, okay. So if you could just please leave us alone, I won’t call the authorities and report you for a hate crime.”

It seems to throw him off, because he blinks a few times and then he apologizes and leaves. Zazzalil pulls her back in for a kiss while Jemilla’s still able to hear his footsteps, and when she can’t hear him anymore, Zazzalil keeps kissing her and doesn’t pull back. After a while, however, it’s over and Zazzalil pulls back. Slightly. She still holds Jemilla’s face in her hands, however.

“What was that about?” Jemilla whispers after a while, also not pulling away. There’s a smile on Zazzalil’s lips that Jemilla can’t quite place, so she just narrows her eyes a bit. Zazzalil shrugs instead of answering, so Jemilla sighs and keeps talking. “You know, Zazzalil, that was a very bad idea. 0/10, would not recommend.”

It makes Zazzalil raise her eyebrow and lean her head back a little bit. “What, the kiss? I thought it was a good idea, actually.”

And while Jemilla’s pretty sure she catches a brief flash of red on Zazzalil’s cheeks, she doesn’t comment on it. “No, silly. The kiss was a really good idea and I’m really impressed by your quick thinking. No, I meant provoking that guy. You’ve read his files! He could have easily shot at us and then what would have happened?”

Zazzalil just shrugs. “I didn’t really think about it. I just kind of thought it’d work out and went with it.” That sounded just like her. And maybe that was just what Jemilla needed from time to time. Someone a little reckless, but apparently not reckless enough to get them in trouble.

Part of her wants to lean in and kiss Zazzalil again. It’s not what she expects to want and it’s not something she has time to deal with right now, so she just smiles at her instead, then turns her attention back to the warehouse where they now see the guy who was just with them enter.

The rest of the night goes smoothly. They get their recordings, they get their pictures and they shadow the man who leaves with the suitcase to his hotel room. Jemilla breaks in, she replaces the suitcase with a worthless replacement and just like that, their mission is over. They call for Emberly to come pick them up and Jemilla takes Zazzalil’s hand while they walk through the streets towards the train station where their ride – probably – awaits. And Zazzalil squeezes her hand and smiles at her a few times through the walk and it’s nice. It’s unexpectedly nice.

Emberly hasn’t arrived yet; she’s three minutes away. At least that’s what it says on her watch. It means she has enough time to waste thinking about what she should do. And she decides she doesn’t want to waste her time, so she just presses Zazzalil up against a wall and kisses her instead.

Zazzalil smiles into the kiss. Then she kisses her back.


End file.
